WARNING: Don't Read If You Are Not in the Mood For Honesty

Sunday, our special speaker from Peacemaker ministry reminded us that the first key that unlocks the door to peacemaking is confession. Around LH, we call that being real.  The speaker even referenced a passage we regularly remind ourselves of and that is James 5:16.  So, today, I have a confession to make. It seems to be a sin with which we pastor types sub come to as easy prey.  I confess to you that on a weekly basis since May, I have been fighting, sometimes winning and sometimes loosing, the sin of distraction.  Even this week, I have found my self easily distracted by the petty. 

You know what is funny...at LH, the majority get this truth: Church is not about me, rather I am created for the Church.  The majority at LH not only recite, but are daily learning to live out what it means to be real, transformed, connected and poured out.  Praise God!

My word...with a church like this, I should be living on cloud nine every day...but you know what...I'm not.  No, since May I have been very distracted. I have been required to give an unusual amount of time and energy to a very small group of people who had become unhappy with LH and had decided to part ways.  While I honestly and truly respect these folks for loving God and the church enough to move forward,  I confess my distraction, which is all on me not on them.  In my sin of distraction, I have allowed myself to be pulled away from the amazing good that God is doing in and among the majority of you.  For this, I want to apologize. If I have seemed distracted, distant or discouraged it has been because I have been.  You deserve better and I am sorry.  Will you please forgive me?

I think one of the families who left us summed up what could be pointed to as the summary of why this small group of folks had become unhappy with us.  (I admit I have wrestled with whether or not to share this, but as I have been studying the NT letters to the churches, I see that by not doing so I am not being faithful to their biblical example). Someone seemed to sum it up best when they said, "Living Hope is not the same church it was ten years ago." 

I admit that they are right.  We are not the same church we were ten years ago.  For us to go back to being the same church we were ten years ago, we would need to move back to the old building, get rid of all of you who were not here ten years ago, quit Food 2 Go, stop serving orphans in Ukraine, not even think about joining Circles Re-entry which is helping ex-offenders never return to prison, tell Pine Ridge Indian Reservation that we have better things to do than help the poorest people in the USA, not be working with Men of Action to start the first safe house in Dayton for victims of human trafficking, not be feeding kids through Kids Against Hunger packs, we'd need to tell our teens and children that we are OK with over 75% of them leaving their faith when they graduate and never coming back to Christ, we would go back to barely having 30% involved in connecting, we would not have a poured out fund that is designated to helping others and we would not even be thinking about the 100% offering give away in January and I would not have at all grown in my understanding or boldness in preaching the biblical theology that says you can't over speak that God is love and that we are to be a people that lives out that love everywhere in order to fulfill Jesus prayer to usher in his kingdom coming on earth here and now and forever.  So, it is true, we are not the same church we were ten years ago and I pray that by God's help and your continued amazing faith ten years from now we will look back and say, "Praise God we are not the same church we were in 2012!"

Last night, I woke up at 1 AM and could not go to sleep.  My mind was racing.  I first prayed for all the people, some of them you, who the Lord brought to mind--we have so many good people fighting the good fight in Celebrate Recovery, the Prayer Ministry  for Inner healing, Freedom from Anger and Divorce Care (Most of which we also did not have ten years ago).   But then I started praying about my distractions...funny...God can even speak through our distractions...as I was praying God said I need to let him help me shift my focus to what HE is doing among us!

This reminded me of what God said when Moses asked him what was his name.  God answered, "I AM."  God is not the God of yesterday.  God is the God of today!  He is!  Right now.  In this moment.  God is!  Praise Him!  And in this moment the I Am God is on the move in and through you, LH. 

As I was praying God began to bring to mind what he is doing.  He said, "Chad, it is time for you to start celebrating what I am doing in your midst!"

" Celebrating, what, Lord? , I asked.

Then came to mind, "Celebrate tribal councils, public schools and local and county governments!"

I knew exactly what he was talking about...praise God for you!

Praise God that you are Church that a Tribal Council in South Dakota thinks to call! This week Charlene Karacia shared with me that the tribal Council from Pine Ridge Reservation called and said, "When you come can you bring 25 blankets?"  Don't miss how huge this is!  The tribal council does not just call anyone. In fact, generations of broken trust has taught this poverty stricken people to not call on any one outside their tribe.  But in Doug and Charlene Karacia they have found someone they see as trustworthy and even family.  Did you know they invited them to the tribal Sun dance a year or two ago and they were the first outsiders invited for countless generations?  What is that about?  That is about God moving and working his kingdom through the Karacias and you.  Each one of you who have or will donate food items, some cash or a warm new or gently used blankets by this Sunday will be extending God's love to these forgotten people next week when our mission team travels to them.

Praise God that the public schools call us!  The teacehr of the special needs students at CHS cried as she called to tell us that a large amount of Food 2 Go food was stolen from the High School.  She apologized as if it was some how her fault.  Karen Dubro and Larry Fouty answered the call in a way that helped this lovely teacher know that our God is bigger than stolen food.  Sure this put us in a bind, but we know God will provide and through you...you amazing people called LH, he has and will!

Praise God that the local government thinks to call a church!  Centerville called last month to see if we would help with the Veteran's Ceremony in November. Our Support the Military group is running with it in a way that has amazed the city.  They said,. "We did not know there was a church that had a support your military group."

Praise God that the county government sees LH as a people with whom to partner for the good of our county!  Ex-offenders returning to prison is a huge national problem, but Montgomery County in cooperation with Think Tank's Circles Re-entry is doing something about this.  All they needed was a faith community in the suburbs to partner with them.  Our very own, Scott Copitz, brought this need to LH and now over 20 from LH are involved in the beautiful, power, reciprocal relationship called Circles.  Former state Legislator, John White said, "In Living Hope we have found a church who has it in their DNA to be involved in gritty, scary ministry."   Praise God!

In the last several months, I have wrestled with whether or not to share this with you.  But, the nagging thought in the back of my head has been that I have never not been real with you. I have always shared what I am going through because I truly believe if we are to be a church that is real that I must not just preach it, but live it.  So, yes, I confess I have been engaged in the sin of distraction.  But today, as I confess, I am free to more clearly see how powerful it is that we are not the same church we were ten years ago because now the likes of Tribal Councils, Public Schools and even the Government turns to a Church in Centerville, OH, not because their is anything special about its pastor--Did I really say, "spiritual orgasm" because it best made point a couple weeks ago? Nor is it because of our building--have you seen our carpet lately? It is not becuase we are the biggest church around or have the most money, but because the majority of people called LH truly get that our faith is something to be lived and that means being real, transformed, connected and poured out! 

If this was too honest for you, please know it is your own fault for reading it--I warned you in the title :-)  But for the rest of you, I want you to hear me say how grateful I am for you. You are amazing.  And I believe we are experiencing the best days of our Church and even greater days are ahead.  In fact, on Sunday I get to share one great new thing that our board just voted to make happen for our Children's ministry!  Thank you for letting me be real!  I already feel as though He has lifted a weight that I had begun to wonder if would be lifted.  Praise God!